Across the Void
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: She didn't know what had happened to her or how she came to be there. All she knew was that she was thankful that she came across Maes Hughes when she did. My first FMA/Bleach story. Fem Ichigo. Possible Roy/Ichigo pairing.
1. Chapter 1

All it took was a few moments of pure terror.

Terror at being cornered by something..._inhuman_.

Terror at the possibility that he would never go home again. Fear that he'd leave behind his lovely young wife and their four year old little girl.

He was on his knees, a look of utter hopelessness and despair on his face as he stared down the barrel of a gun in an effort to ignore the maniacal grin of the monster now wearing his wife's form.

He wasn't much of a praying man. Hell he wasn't much for religion at all. Not after the things that he'd done and seen while in Ishval. He'd killed too many innocent people and_ ruined_ too many other's lives to care anything for God.

But there, in that exact moment. He couldn't help but pray that God was merciful and would make his death a quick one. Even if he knew deep down that he didn't deserve it any.

He didn't remember closing his eyes. All he could recall, even in the vaguest sense was that he was getting dizzy from blood loss. His head was spinning. Likely because of the wound to his side.

It was a flesh wound, sure. But even flesh wounds could bleed like a bitch.

He heard the safety being taken off and knew that this was it. He was going to die any moment now, like a dog, on his knees, shaking in fear. He wasn't going to lie.

It sucked.

However just as the creature started to pull the trigger- they both heard the curious drawl of a feminine voice and his eyes snapped open, and his head swiveled in the direction of the sound in alarm. After all, it was one thing for him to die like a dog- it was quite another entirely for someone else to get dragged into this mess.

The creature let out an annoyed sounding animalistic growl and focused it's inhuman eyes on the intruder.

Standing there just a few feet from the two of them was a girl. She looked young. Like fourteen or fifteen years old kind of young. She was tall for her age. Her height nearly reaching six foot easily. And that was without the added height that a girl tended to get from heels.

She had long strawberry colored hair that was up off of her nape in a twist, leaving a few stray strands to flirt with her cheeks. Her eyes though- dear god, he thought that the creature was fucking scary- he was pretty sure that the look of utter malice in the kid's glittering garnet red eyes could _scare_ the piss out of anyone.

Maes was fairly certain that if he hadn't maybe already wet himself, that he would probably do so again easily.

"You're interrupting something here kid." Envy said in a warning tone.

"I can see that. I'm just wondering what I should do now..." The girl said in an perplexed tone.

"You could always going scampering back home to your mother-"

"Or- and I like this plan much better than yours-" She said flippantly. "I can kick your ass- No, no, no. Don't say anything. I already know what your thinking. It's probably along the lines of; My god, my ass hurts." She smiled then. And not a nice smile, but the kind of blood chilling smile that Maes had only ever seen on the most wicked of serial killer's.

_How the hell does a pretty little gal like her get a damned smile like that?_ He wondered as the creature opened his mouth to say something- probably scathing or at the very least in outrage of her assumption- however he never got far enough.

Maes didn't even know what the hell happened. One second the kid was rambling in a half joking manner about kicking the creature's ass and the next, she was gone. Literally!

_D-Did she just disappear into thin air?_ He wondered idly before he saw a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye and the creature went flying through the air as the girl suddenly reappeared. _What the?! _He thought in a panic as he eyed her warily.

Her eyes didn't leave the creature for a moment or so longer before she asked in a low tone, "Hey mister, are you okay?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to snap at her that, hell no, he wasn't okay. But he managed to stop himself at the last moment as she dug something out of her back pant's pocket and then held it out to him. He blinked at it, his mind not really seeming to register that she was holding out a kerchief for him to use. Maybe to staunch the flow of blood on his side.

When he finally did realize what she was trying to do, he wasn't sure if he was grateful or not. After all, she had just knocked the hell out of the creature and had a look on her pretty face akin to that of an ax murderer.

It wasn't exactly a look that inspired gratitude, much less any sort of warm and fuzzy feelings.

Still, he took it from her after a heartbeat or so and pressed it against his injured side, flinching slightly at the way the wound throbbed and ached and burned underneath the clothe.

"Think you can stand up?" She asked curiously. He frowned at her for a moment, wondering why she was asking him that when she suddenly knelt down in front of him with her back to him and said, "If you can't then climb on and I'll carry you."

"What?" He asked in a disbelieving tone. Not quite sure if he had heard her right.

"I said, if you can't stand then climb on. I'll carry you."

Feeling himself bristle at being told that she'd carry him- a guy a little more than ten years her senior, who weighed significantly _heavier_ than he looked on her back- piggy back style. Would more than likely have two very different outcomes.

One is the creature would catch them and kill them both. And the other was that she would throw her back out and he'd probably have to carry _her_.

Neither option appealed to him any.

But at the same time, dying wasn't all that appealing to him either. So after several moments of careful consideration, he sighed and then muttered a few choice oaths as he moved to climb onto her back and upon settling himself there, he felt her slip her small hands underneath his knees and shift him a little bit before she stood up.

"Alright, I'm going to take you to the local hospital."

He was still sort of trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she had actually managed to pick him up as she spoke, so he partially missed what she had said. It didn't stop him from saying, "Fine. What about that-"

"If he's smart- he ran."

"O-Oh," He stammered out in shock before then saying. "Okay. But if you _eat_ me- I will haunt you for it later."

She made a soft sound before replying, "Duly noted. Now let's get you some help before the riff-raff doubles back on us." She hadn't said much after that. Though he would admit to being rather out of it by then anyways. So it was probably a good thing that she hadn't really spoken much after that.

To be perfectly honest- not long after they had started moving- he had more or less lost the fight to stay conscious. Everything from his injury to the adrenaline pulsing through his veins to the overwhelming bit of information about the things that he had found- all sort of knocked him out.

He woke up around midnight or so to find himself, much to his astonishment, in an actual hospital bed. His side had been sterilized, stitched and bandaged and he also had a IV with a blood bag hooked up to his arm.

But more than that, was the fact that his wife and daughter were present in the room along. Both were asleep. While his mysterious savior sat across from the hospital bed that he lay in, with his daughter curled up in her lap.

Alarmed by the fact that she was holding his little girl he started to sit upright, but had to stop when his side gave a _painful_ twinge of protest. He hissed and fixed angry gold eyes on the girl as she blinked at him and then said in a hushed tone, "You shouldn't move so fast. You'll tear you're stitches if you do."

He might have made some smartassed remark, however the fact that she slowly got to her feet and moved over to his side and carefully deposited his little girl on the side of the bed where he wasn't injured, didn't go totally unnoticed to him.

"I'm sorry for going through you're wallet once I got you here." She said the words softly as she grasped his wrist lightly and placed his arm around his little girl. "But I needed the information to contact you're family and let you're emergency contact know your current situation. He..uh...said that he'd be on his way here as soon as possible. He must be a good friend. He sounded really worried about you."

"Name." It wasn't a question. It was a command.

"Horse something or other. I think?" She said with a small frown.

He rolled his eyes despite how ridiculous Roy's newest nickname was. _Horse_. He'd be telling the flame alchemist that the second that he walked through his door. It would likely piss the man off to no end. But as relieved as he was to know that she had managed to somehow contact Roy and tell him about what had happened, it wasn't _his_ name that he wanted.

It was _hers_.

He wanted the name of the person/thing that had saved him from dying. Even if it was just so that he could attempt to dig something up on her later. After all, if the homunculi had left behind a damned trail...then it wasn't totally beyond reason that the girl may have been noticed by the military too.

Even if it was something small and seemingly insignificant. He'd find it.

"You're name," He said again, this time he tried to be specific. She blinked those oddly colored garnet red eyes of hers and made an O with her mouth before then thinning her lips and seemed to think. "No fake names or alias's kid." He growled out, his patience with her wearing thin.

"O-Oh...um...okay... M-My name-" He listened intently, his attention riveted on her when all of a sudden the door to his hospital room burst open and Roy came barging in.

"Hughes!"

"No! Dammit Roy!" He growled in irritation as the kid quickly said.

"Oh thank god- saved by the- you know what you guys need to talk, I'll go home now. Bye!" And beat a hasty retreat before he could so much as say; don't let her escape.


	2. Chapter 2

She brushed by Roy so quickly that she almost bowled the man over before disappearing down the hall. "What the-" Roy started as he stood with his back flattened against the doorframe, watching her go before then asking, "Who was that?"

Maes grit his teeth and hissed out, _"Go. Get. Her. Now."_

"Huh?" Roy asked his tone incredulous. He didn't know who the kid was, but if Hughes was insisting that someone get her- then it must be for a good reason. "Alright. One moment." He said, finally relenting as he slipped back out of the room and quickly heading in the same direction the kid had taken several moments prior.

His mind awash with questions as to just why Hughes would want the kid found and returned to his room. The easiest one to answer so far was that she must have been a witness or something to what had happened to Hughes. And as such he likely wanted her brought back to his hospital room until arrangements could be made to see to her protection.

Lord knew that he'd already have to _arrange_ something for Hughes and his family to keep an incident like this from happening again.

Turning the corner at the end of the hall, he blinked when he found the kid asking a nurse at the nurses station a question. Something about a place to stay? Cocking his head curiously, he looked her over.

She was young. Barely more than fifteen years old and already in trouble with...attempted murderers? Seriously how did a kid like her get embroiled in something like this? He wondered idly as he walked up to her. "Excuse me miss?"

She flinched a little bit at the sudden sound of his voice, which was fascinating. Normally people didn't flinch when he spoke to them. Well...not unless he was shouting at them anyways.

"Uh...h-hello." She said politely, if a little bit uneasily as she turned to face him. He was beginning to understand why Hughes wanted the kid brought back. She was over eager to escape.

Did she have a guilty conscience maybe? He wondered as he gave her a deceptively friendly smile. His mind already throwing up red flags.

"My name is Roy Mustang, I'm a friend of Hughes." He said politely as he held a gloved hand out for her to shake. She eyed him warily but slowly took his hand in hers and shook it.

She had strength in her grip. More so than most girls her age would.

Her grip was carefully light, yet firm enough to be misleading. Her handshake kind of reminded his of Armstrong's handshakes. Because of the enormous physical strength that the man wielded, he had to keep himself carefully controlled at all times to keep from accidentally injuring someone.

"Uh...right- the guy from..." He smiled at her, curious about whether or not she really didn't seem to know Hughe's name or simply pretended not to know it. For god's sake she had been in the man's hospital room! How could she not have talked to the man at least a little bit?

"Yeah, him. Anyways, I couldn't help but overhear you speaking with the nurse-" She visibly cringed. "And was wondering if you needed someplace to crash for a little while?"

"I uh..." She sounded reluctant to say. And the fetching blush in her cheeks indicated that the sudden shift in conversation must have embarrassed her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you any. I just thought that I would ask just in case you needed some help with arrangements." He said smoothly, hoping that she would buy his little lie. She was still wary and uncomfortable, but at least she finally answered him.

"I do need a place to crash, actually. I'm sort of...really far from home."

"Oh? How did that happen?"

"I...don't really know. I was injured and sort of wound up in a coma for about three months. I just woke up a few weeks ago."

He blinked at her, uncertain as to what to say to her story. She seemed sincere enough. But there was something about her story that just nagged at him some. He just...couldn't place what it was.

"I see. Then this new situation that you've found yourself in much be quite overwhelming to you." He said in a sympathetic tone. "Do you recall anything? Any details from before you were injured?"

"Not really. Just...vague things." She confessed with a small huff. As if the very mention of not knowing anything _irked_ her.

"You're name? Family? Friends?"

She sighed tiredly, "Ichigo Kurosaki, fifteen years old. High school student. Dad..." She seemed to zone out on him for a few moments as if internally searching for answers and upon not finding them, moved on. "Mother- Misaki, deceased. Two younger twin sisters. Karin and...Yuzu."

"Is that all that you remember?" He wondered aloud. Though he was slightly impressed that she had managed to recall even that much. Amnesia, especially when caused by some sort of trauma, was a tricky thing. Sometimes the memories came back and sometimes...they just didn't.

It was usually frustrating for the person who suffered from it.

"I- yeah, for now."

"I see. Alright then, that's...good to know, I guess. So, about that place to crash- Would you like to stay with me for a little while?" He asked curiously. She frowned and seemed to mull over his proposal for a few moments before asking cautiously,

"I don't mean to be rude or anything. B-But how would that even work?"

"I have a guest room."

"Good to know. Any rules that I should be made aware of if I should say yes?"

He blinked at her for a moment and then gave her a slow smile. "Not really. I rarely stay at my place, so...you'd pretty much have the run of it. Just try to stay away from my study and keep the place picked up. Oh, and no wild parties."

She made a strained sound and muttered, "Why would I have any parties? It's pointless unless you know people anyways." He chuckled at her words and slipped an arm around her slender shoulders and felt her tense up a little bit. Her face suddenly going dangerously pale.

"Ichigo?"

She was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Kid?" He said a little bit louder this time as her eyes rolled back in her head and she suddenly collapsed. "Crap! Nurse! Nurse!" He shouted as he caught her and did his best to hold her up so that she wouldn't hit the floor.

* * *

Once he let a doctor take the kid, he then went back to Hughes room to inform him of what had happened and watched the earlier agitation slowly leave the man as he got a weird guilty look on his face.

"What's wrong Hughes?" Roy asked as he noted that the man's wife and daughter were gone from the room. Probably because he had sent them both home for the time being so that they could get some rest. Which was good, since it gave them both a chance to speak freely.

"I- Is she going to be okay?"

"She should be fine, the doc mentioned something about a panic attack. But I don't know what triggered it. Much less such a bad one."

Hughes nodded his head after a moment and then reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose before saying, "I'll admit Roy, I am suspicious of the kid..."

"Oh?" Roy said in an interested tone.

"She just... The creature that attacked me was a homunculus." Roy stiffened where he stood and narrowed his dark eyes as he kept talking. "I was attacked because I found something out about the Ishval extermination that no one else seems to realize. Couple it with some other incidents dating back over fifty years and... The kid, she didn't move like a human. I don't know anyone- especially a kid like her that would be out so late instead of home with her family, safe and sound and...that thing...I didn't realize it at first. But it seemed genuinely_ wary_ of her. It wanted her to leave because it didn't want to engage her in a fight."

Roy let out a low whistle as his mind sorted through the new information. "No wonder you're suspicious of her. If I were in you're place- I would be too."

"You think I'm being silly, don't you?"

"Maybe, just a little bit. I took the chance to talk to the girl before she had her little freak out. She's...strange, I will admit. But-"

"But?"

"But the way that I see it is like this, if she wanted to kill you- you'd be dead. The fact that the homunculus was wary of her means _something_. And that alone means that she bears watching."

"Okay... So what now?"

"I'll be staying here for the next few months to investigate and keep an eye on you and you're family." Roy said as he looked the man over. Hughes didn't say much aside from mentioning the kid again. At which point Roy told him that she'd be staying with him until things were more sorted out.


	3. Chapter 3

Ichigo's return to awareness was one part jerk upright and a dizzying disorienting look around her surroundings as she _tried_ to sort herself out. She barely recalled what had happened before she had lost consciousness. The sad truth of the matter was that all that she really recalled was the overwhelming fear that had flooded her mind.

Her surroundings at present were unfamiliar, and reminded her of when she had woken up in the hospital from her coma. Sans the smell of disinfectant and stomach turning blank, white walls that is.

As it was, the place smelled...oddly like bourbon, vanilla, sandalwood and a touch of cinnamon? It wasn't necessarily bad. Just..._disarming_. It smelled nice. Disgustingly so, she decided with a slight scrunch of her nose as she tried to study her surroundings again.

She was in someone's house.

That much was clear because of the décor and such. The walls were an off cream color with pastel blue and green borders over solid dark oak. The light fixtures were antiques. All bronze colored and attached to the wall with the exception of the soft light coming from the small lamp sitting on the corner of a table across the room from where she had woken up.

"Please tell me that I didn't break into someone's house..." She groaned out as she lifted a hand to her head. God her skull hurt. It felt almost like- like her bones had been shattered and were trying to knit back together wrong.

She felt the need to brush her fingertips subtly over her forehead just to check and make sure that her skull wasn't trying to tear through her flesh.

As she did so, she completely missed the door to the room opening a bit and the person who owned the home slipping inside of the room and pausing just in the doorway to watch her for a moment.

If her actions seemed strange to him, he didn't bother saying anything about it. Instead he observed her and then when she finally dropped her hand away from her head, softly cleared his throat to get her attention.

Roy expected a number of reactions from her upon finally waking. Confusion. Maybe a little bit of worry or fear. Questions even. What he did _not_ expect however was for the girl to literally throw herself off of the bed and scurry- _faster_ than he'd ever seen any person scurry before- into the nearest corner where she planted herself with her back against the wall and her knees draw to her chest and just stared at him with eyes the size of saucers.

"What the-" He said as he stared back at her, barely understanding what had just happened.

Her reaction, he knew was a trained response that bespoke years of pain, suffering and possibly even abuse of one kind or another. And he had absolutely no idea what to do with that potential knowledge. Really he didn't.

"Are you okay kid?" He asked after several moments of simply staring at her.

"I think so…" Came the subdued reply.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Roy said in a slightly apologetic tone. "I heard movement and came to check on you. You really freaked me out earlier, you know."

"Sorry."

"Uh- look," He said awkwardly while trying to search his mind on how to be a good host. "If you're feeling hungry right about now- I have some food."

She seemed to mull over his words for a moment, a small frown marring her face before she reluctantly nodded. He smiled, "Great. I'm not much of a cook myself, but I'm okay with some stuff-" He started to explain when she slowly got up off of the floor and moved away from her corner.

"I'm sure that whatever you have will be fine. I'm not picky."

"Okay, follow me then." He said as he turned and walked back out the door. Ichigo hesitated for a moment or so, but soon found herself falling into step behind him.

Once in the dinning room, she noted that he had pulled a chair out for her and was patiently waiting on her to sit down in the offered seat. She eyed him strangely for a moment and then moved to take the seat and tried not to jump when he pushed the chair in closer to the table and then took his own seat while she studied the food for a moment.

It looked fine. It even smelled fine.

"I wasn't sure how you might like your steak, so I hope that you don't mind it being medium rare." He said as he poured them both a drink. He had some wine and she had...milk?

"That's fine. Thank you." She said as she picked up her fork and butter knife? She frowned and held the butter knife up for a moment as he studied her. Undoubtedly wondering whether or not she was going to throw a fit.

Oddly enough, she didn't. She merely studied the blade for a moment and then began to use it to cut up her steak. He wasn't even sure if she put any effort behind the action. She certainly didn't appear to have strained herself doing so like most people would have.

However within five minutes, she had the whole thing cut up into nice bite sized pieces. And if that wasn't startling enough- she had even somehow managed to cut up the piece of bone still embedded in the meat with the dull knife too! The bone, for gods sake! The stupid piece was probably a little thinner than her wrist, and he had given her the _dullest_ knife that he had in the house.

Just how the hell did she manage to do that?! He wondered as she took her first bite. She didn't even bother chewing the meat. She just swallowed it whole and then speared another piece of meat.

"Just out of curiosity- were you by any chance raised by wolves?" He asked wryly. She paused for a moment, her fork half way to her mouth and frowned again before muttering an apology as she blushed.

She seemed to have forgotten her manners for a moment.

She ate slower after that. Taking the time to actually chew her food before swallowing. Within ten minutes, everything on her plate was gone. The meat, the veggies.

Yes- even the bone from the steak- which had him practically gaping at her in disbelief as she picked up her glass of milk and quickly downing it all in one gulp before then setting the empty glass on her plate along with her fork and knife and then politely excused herself to take her dishes into the kitchen.

He panicked for a brief moment, not really wanting her near his cutlery without any sort of supervision whatsoever. Especially when it could come back to bite him in the ass later, and he quickly stood up and told her that he'd take the dishes for her.

She frowned at him for a moment and then tried to reason with him.

Mentioning the fact that she was fifteen, not two. She could take care of her own mess. However he wouldn't take no for an answer and took the choice from her when he walked over and snatched her dishes from her hands and then told her to go on back to bed or something.

* * *

The next week or so was uneventful.

Very uneventful.

The kid literally didn't do much of anything. Oh sure, she didn't just sit around like a bump on a log- which was good- he supposed. It was the fact that she didn't do much of anything out of the ordinary at all that pretty bugged him needlessly.

He had found a way to get his hands on her medical file from the hospital and looked through it one day and had damned near lost his lunch at what he had found there. The list of injuries both old and new was more than fucking alarming, it was downright mind boggling.

So far he had managed to count over nine hundred and sixty different injuries. _Nine hundred and sixty. _A majority of which had been fatal injuries with _less_ than a snowball's chance in hell of survival.

On top of that, the doctor had been almost thoroughly convinced that the kid hadn't just been abused- she'd been flat out _tortured._ Tortured for fuck's sake! As if the world wasn't fucked up enough already.

He'd been so pissed about his findings that he'd left work early to go tell Hughes of his findings and get some advice. Of course he was no damned help at all. The second that Roy had finished telling him a list of some of her prior injuries, the man had simply heaved a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose and asked him what he needed.

What he needed was to somehow catch the kid acting...odd. So he'd asked if he could bring her over for dinner with his family one night and see what happened.

Hughes wasn't as reluctant to agree as she should have been considering how suspicious he'd been of her before. But Roy would take what he could get and had told him that he'd bring her over in a day or two. Hughes nodded and told him that he'd let his wife know.


	4. Chapter 4

Two days later, Roy showed up at Maes home almost an hour early with Ichigo in tow. When he had told her that they would be going over to Hughes place to eat dinner with his family.

She'd just...nodded her head and wandered off to shower and get ready.

And now, here they were getting ready to announce themselves to the Hughes family. Roy felt sort of jittery about eating with the family. Not because he had never had dinner with them before, but because he was uncertain as to how things would turn out.

The kid had been nothing but a model house guest so far. But he needed her to slip up somehow so that he could determine whether or not she really was a threat of some kind.

Right now she was looking around the hall of the apartment building with a small frown on her face. As if something was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" He asked after several moments of mental debate with himself.

"Dunno," Ichigo said but kept frowning and looking around almost anxiously before finally saying, "Something doesn't feel right." He gave her a curious look. But didn't bother asking her what was wrong again. After all, if she didn't exactly know what it was that was making her so antsy, then she couldn't really tell him anything anyways.

And he was in no mood for playing guessing games with her.

She let out an irritated sound, and slowly moved away from him to go over to the window twenty feet away as he knocked on the door. Maes answered his knocking a second or so later and greeted him with a hug as he asked curiously where Ichigo was.

Roy turned to point to the kid but stiffened when he noticed that she was gone.

Groaning, he muttered a few choice words and then cast Maes an apologetic look and started to leave to look for her, hoping that she hadn't gone far and that she was simply downstairs somewhere. "Roy, hold up- I'll come with you." Maes said as he slipped out of his apartment and gently shut the door behind him.

"There's no reason for us both to go looking for her. Stay here, relax and let me see if I can find her."

"But- Roy what if she's someone managed to find another homunculus?"

Roy paused in mid step and turned his head slowly to look at Maes from over his shoulder for a moment before then saying, "Then that's all the more reason that you should stay here. Besides, if she has...run into another homunculus- then I want to see what she does."

His friend growled in annoyance and then hissed, "She's a _kid_, Roy. She could get hurt or killed."

"Then neither of us will have to worry about her being a threat anymore if she does get hurt or worse."

"You callus bastard!"

"Shut up... I'm not as callus as you think. I understand very well you're concerns. And despite her oddities, Ichigo has sort of grown on me. She's been a model house guest, she cooks and cleans and stays out of trouble- but more than that, I owe her for saving you. Now let me go and find her before she gets herself into something that she can't get out of. After all, she is just a _kid_."

"Be careful Roy." Was all that Maes said as he watched him leave. He'd give him ten minutes to get a good head start, and then he was going to go after him.

* * *

Envy and Gluttony were both running just as fast as they could, while screaming all kinds of obscenities and such at the top of his lungs. He _still_ couldn't believe the situation that he'd found himself and Gluttony in.

Of all the rotten luck- he'd had to run into her again.

The damned brat that had saved Hughes from being killed before. He'd been watching the Hughes family since he had failed in his job to kill the man, waiting for another chance to take a crack at him. This time he had planned to take Gluttony to kill the man's wife and kid while he watched.

He'd been so sure that everything would work out that he'd been beyond surprised to open up the apartment building's door and...received a fist to the face from one _pissed_ off looking strawberry blond girl.

Gluttony had just stood there, watching the exchange until she had reached out and grabbed him and lifted him up over her head and then threw him down on top of him.

He wasn't going to lie, between his face being semi caved in from her punch, the shock of seeing her/seeing her lift someone as heavy as Glutton over her head and then toss him down on top of him- he was pretty goddamned_ freaked_ out. I mean, just what sort of human was she anyways?

He had tried to ask, but the second that he opened his mouth- she'd attacked him again. This time with a knee to his face. Which had hurt almost _unbearably_.

Which was really saying a lot considering how durable he was.

Honestly his entire skull felt as if it had collapsed in on itself from the strength put behind the blow. If he'd been a normal human, there was no doubt in his mind that his head would no longer be attached to his shoulders. They had gotten scared after that. And in all honesty, who could really blame them?

Usually they were just scared of Father. But the kid...

She was definitely someone to be afraid of.

"Dammit! Can't we talk this out?!" Envy finally yelled and then screamed as a tree- a whole, fucking tree! A _huge_ one- was flung at the both of their heads. Narrowly missing him and Gluttony by a scant hairs breath. The next one nailed Gluttony in the back, sending the fat ass tumbling down a hill and into a small section of river.

"Gluttony!"

"Why don't you stop worrying about you're friend and worry more about yourself!" Was the only form of warning that he received this time around before she suddenly appeared in front of him and before he could even stop- much less scream- clotheslined him in the throat with her arm and sent him sprawling to the ground.

* * *

Roy and Maes both looked at the uprooted trees and a few other things with suspicion. And rightly so- there had been no storms, no earthquakes, no tornados or flash floods of late that could have uprooted such large and healthy tress. And then there was the screaming.

That wasn't suspicious or ominous at all. Really it wasn't. It was perfectly natural to hear people screaming oaths and such while running from a possibly deranged lunatic. Although the name 'Gluttony' had certainly gotten their attention. Especially when Maes had looked at him and mouthed, _Homunculus_, to him.

And then just like that, the two of them were off again.

And when they finally caught up to/found the kid- it wasn't in a way that was expected.

They came up on Ichigo clotheslining some guy and sending him sprawling to the ground a moment before she looked up at them and then grabbed the guy by his shirt and then started to drag him off into the thicket. The guy screamed in terror and tried to hit and kick his way to freedom.

But Ichigo was obviously not only more determined, but apparently stronger that he was as well.

Roy started to go after her to stop her- figuring that this must be the episode that he'd been waiting on her to have- and yes, she was definitely a threat. However Maes stopped him with a firm grasp of his arm the second that he got a good look at the guy that she was terrorizing.

"That's him Roy. That's the homunculi that tried to kill me." Maes hissed, his expression going from calm to worried and then to positively_ livid_ in the span of seconds.

Roy looked at his friend and then back at the kid and homunculi, alarm pounding through his veins as he called out, "Ichigo! Don't go into the woods with that thing. Whatever it is that you're planning, do it where we can see you!"

He wasn't sure if the girl heard him, or if she really even cared to stay where they could see her. But finally she seemed to understand what he was saying and sighed as she straightened her spine and then suddenly spun and sent the homunculus flying into a tree a few feet away from where she was standing.

The thing hit with enough force to leave an painful looking imprint in the splintered wood before she then walked over to it and grabbed it by the hair and started to drag it back towards them.

Once she was a few feet away from them, she forced the homunculi to his knees in front of the two and held him there by his hair.

"You okay kid?" Maes asked.

Her garnet colored eyes flickered to him for a moment and she gave a curt nod before rearing her hand back and then punching the homunculus in the back. He screamed and tried to escape her grasp as she started to force her hand through his body before her fingers came into contact with something.

The homunculi went deathly still for a moment, a broken sounding whimper escaping him as she wrapped her fingers around his core and then leaned down close to his ear and growled out, "You'll answer every one of their questions, honestly. Or I'll rip out that horrible little stone you're using to keep yourself alive."


	5. Chapter 5

**Filler chap.**

* * *

"Ichigo, maybe you should go back to-" Roy started to say but was cut off when the girl stubbornly said.

"I'm not moving from this spot."

"Kid, listen. We're going to interrogate him. That means that what happens next will be messy and likely traumatizing. Even I will have difficulty with this. And Roy likely will too." Maes tried to reason with her by impressing upon her the severity of what was to come. However Ichigo refused to move or back down.

"I said that I'm not moving. In case the two of you haven't figured it out just yet- I'm all that's keeping him from going after you. The second that I let go of him and move away, he'll try to attack you and kill you."

Roy sighed knowing that she was likely right as Maes lost his temper and practically shouted, "Why do you care so much if this thing kills us anyways? You don't even know us! You certainly don't owe us anything! So why? Make us understand why you feel some insane and self destructive need to do this!"

"It's simply my nature."

"Huh?" Both men said unintelligibly. Neither one really understanding what she had just said to them.

"What do you mean, it's you're nature?" Roy finally asked after a moment or so.

"The answer to your questions about who and what I am- about my nature- lie in my name."

The two men frowned at her, still not understanding as she sighed and then said. "My name, the meaning of it is, number one guardian. I'm a guardian in name and in nature. I _protect_ those who can't protect themselves. Whether it is my life, my health, happiness, my wellbeing or future- It is my job to sacrifice _all_ of it if I must. It's as simple as that."

"So you don't really care then. You're just doing what your job. Sort of like a watch dog?" Maes said in a disappointed tone. For some incredibly insane reason he had wanted her to care.

She rolled her eyes at him and got a frustrated look. "You know nothing about guardian's at all, do you? For a person to be considered a guardian of any kind- they have to care. It's simply necessary. The stronger the feeling towards those that the guardian is trying to protect, the greater the _need_ to interfere with things that could destroy the one/ones that are being protected."

"Uh...o-okay... Roy do you have any questions for her before we start interrogating the thingy?"

"Just one. Are you even human?"

She shrugged. "I was before. I don't know what I am now."

"Also...I thought that you couldn't remember anything?"

"I remember a little bit. Enough to know that I'm a guardian. I was human. I'm not sure what I am anymore. And that my home, my family, my friends are all lost to me now."

"I see." Was that Roy could think to say before finally focusing his undivided attention on the homunculus.

* * *

In the end, Ichigo still pulled the homunculus's core from it's body and she wasn't very _nice_ about it either if the way the thing screamed was any indication at all. And then she stood back and watched as the sad little creature slowly turned to dust and disappeared.

While Roy and Maes stood several feet away trying desperately to absorb everything that they had been told. The military, the fuhrer King Bradley, the entire country being set up for a _catastrophic_ disaster.

In all honesty, the two men were overwhelmed by just how deep things went.

While they talked, Ichigo was focusing her attention on the strange red stone in her hand. It looked like a ruby, but it made her skin crawl. As if it have been bathed in the blood of hundreds upon thousands of the innocent and the damned combined.

Cocking her head slightly, she held the stone up so that she could study it a little bit more in the light and she nearly dropped it when there in the glittering ruby surface, she saw a dark shadow appear and take the shape of a screaming face.

A chill shot down her spine and before she could stop herself, she let out a startled sounding scream and dropped it and quickly scurried back away from the cursed thing. The two men stopped talking for a moment, and looked at her curiously for a moment.

She looked pale, unusually so. Her expression was a cross between outrage and grief and anger as she stared down at the stone.

"Ichigo? What is it? What's wrong?" Roy asked as he slowly moved over to her to see what it was that had her looking so freaked out. She didn't move for a heartbeat or so, and when she finally did- she caught Roy off guard by latching onto him and burying her face against his chest and simply holding onto him.

Roy looked down at her for several seconds, part of him wanting to pry her off o him and the other part of him simply wanted to comfort her from whatever it was that was upsetting her. He went with option two and gently wrapped his arms around her and absently rubbed her back.

The poor thing was shaking now. Her entire body shivering like a leaf.

"Come here sweetheart," Maes said as he sensed his discomfort and moved over to pry the girl off of his friend. Roy shot him a grateful look, seeing Ichigo like this didn't sit well with him. But for the moment he wasn't sure how to deal with her being upset. Maes however, the moment that he had Roy free- resigned himself to taking his friend's place as the kid latched onto him in much the same manner and this time refused to let go. "Come on Ichigo, let's head back to the apartment. Gracia is likely wondering where all of us are." He said gently as he started to maneuver the girl away from where Roy was standing.

Leaving the man standing there suspiciously glaring down at the ruby colored stone lying at his feet.


	6. Chapter 6

**Not sure how this next chap is going to turn out- in all honesty- I'm sick again. I have a fever of 101.4, and I'm naseous and just plain feeling yucky. **

**So- if this chap doesn't turn out so well- we'll blame the virus or whatever it is that's making me sick. **

* * *

Maes managed to get Ichigo out of the wooded area before she finally collapsed to the ground and started dry heaving. This went on for several minutes while the concerned man knelt down next to her and kept her hair back out of the way and muttered in a soothing tone, that she was okay.

So what if she had accidentally vomited on one of his shoes. At least it had gotten on the leather inside of inside of it.

The last time Alicia had gotten sick- she'd managed to somehow puke _in_ his shoe while he had been wearing it. And given him squishy toes that had damn near driven him crazy.

He'd tried to sooth his sick baby girl while randomly lifting his vomit filled shoe and shaking in a little bit while trying not to visibly _cringe_ as soon as he started walking again.

Gracia hadn't appreciated the fact that there had been a semi...vomit trail coming from his shoe- all over her nice clean floor. And despite the fact that he was a victim in the whole incident; he'd been forced to sleep on the couch anyways.

Needless to say, he'd learned his lesson real fast.

As it was, once he finally got home, he'd have to strip his shoes off and leave them outside of the apartment until he could get some spare time to clean them off.

Ichigo coughed a few times while he rubbed her back and took a few moments to study her.

You know, when seeing her like this, he couldn't help but feel like an utter bastard for the way he'd acted towards her the night she had saved him all the way up till today. I mean, he'd had some time to think events over more rationally in the past week or so since the incident that had nearly taken his life- and she hadn't had to help him.

She could have simply turned and walked off and left him to die when the homunculus had told her to run along. And yet she hadn't.

She had even placed herself in harms way- And he wasn't going to lie, seeing how she had been with the homunculus before and seeing her sick now- were two very different extremes. One moment she didn't seem human at all, and then she was tossing her cookies the same as any other human kid would.

It...was _confusing_. Very much so.

And after hearing the stuff that Roy had found in her medical file two days ago; he couldn't help but see her as far more human than she appeared to be. According to the things that Roy had told him, she had had a pretty bad run of things.

Broken bones. Ruptured organs. _Missing organs_. Damage to her heart and lungs. Burn scars. _A half crushed in skull._.. She'd been in a coma, fighting for her life. She had old injuries that looked like torture and interrogation injuries.

The kind that only people who had military training and no damned conscience could produce.

He couldn't imagine the suffering and near crippling agonies that she had experienced in her young life. Or even the horrors that she'd seen.

And then there was the whole 'guardian' thing. He still didn't understand what that was or meant. But from the way that she had spoken, it was as if she was something old._ Very old. _And that made him very curious.

Ichigo coughed a few more times to clear her throat and make sure that she wasn't going to be sick again as he asked, "Are you okay now?"

"Y-Yeah. I think so." She rasped out in a weak tone.

"Alright, let's see if we can get you back up." He said as he gently grasped her upper arm and then helped her to her feet. She was a little bit unsteady on her feet, he noted through slightly narrowed gold colored eyes as he carefully steadied her when she started to stagger some. "Are you sure that you're okay? You were fine earlier. If taking part in the homunculi's interrogation didn't make you sick, then I can't fathom what would."

"It was the thing's core-" Ichigo said tiredly.

Maes looked at her oddly for a moment before asking in an disbelieving tone, "The philosopher's stone? That's what you were freaking out about? And what's making you sick now?"

"No- not the stone. What's inside of it. It gives the stone an almost _toxic_ feel to me. Almost like one of those rare poisons that you can absorb into your skin by just touching it. I can feel the suffering and agony of those locked inside of it. It turns my stomach..."

Maes listened to her for a few moments and then said gently. "I didn't realize that something like that could be _felt_. For you to be so sensitive to it, you're senses must be beyond incredible."

"I can feel everything, mister. Not just what's in the stone. But everything in the world."

"Huh?"

"Think of it like this, predator's have enhanced senses that have evolved over the span of millions of years. The more sensitive the senses are. The easier it is to track, hunt, capture and kill- it's prey, among other things. It also allows the predator to keep track of and protect it's pack, it's mate, and even it's offspring."

He nodded his head. He was following her so far.

"Humans in a way, are just like predators. Some of us are hunters, others are trackers, others defend our mate's and offspring. And other's our packs- which just in case you haven't figured out consist of friends, extended family, co-workers that you happen to be fond of ect." He couldn't help the small twitch of his lips as amusement flooded him. He had made the connection. But even if he hadn't- it was nice of her to explain a tad bit more thoroughly.

"I was born with sharper senses than the average human. Everything from my sight, to my hearing, to my sense of smell and tasted and touch- are all so very greater than your own. So much so that I can feel _everything_ around me even without focusing on a much deeper and more connected level than you can."

"It sounds impressive."

"It can be. But most of the time it's just a pain in the ass." She said wryly. He snorted as she continued. "You get really bad nose bleeds if you wind up feeling the wrong thing. Not to mention pounding migraines, nausea- you also suffer other adverse effects. Depending one what it is that you're feeling, it can affect your mood. Your physical and mental health. In all actuality without the right things to anchor you, you can suffer quite a bit."

"It does sound terrible. But in the instances where you don't feel the wrong thing- I'm sure that those times are nice. Aren't they?"

"They can be. In all honesty they can be really good. I can feel every new life that's born, a multitude of happiness and joy. But I feel the bad because it goes hand in hand with the good. There's really no way to separate them. And because of that- I sometimes have trouble functioning in day to day life. I guess that I sort of get overwhelmed by it all."

Maes felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. Though he was still unclear on a lot of things pertaining to her explanation. He did feel that he understood a majority of it.

To have such sharp senses and be able to feel everything and everyone in the world... It sounded painful. And kind of amazing too.

He supposed that that was why she was a 'guardian'. A guardian would need to know those things and be able to feel them in order to know when someone was in danger and if they needed protecting.

Or at least that was his thoughts on things.


	7. Chapter 7

Maes and Ichigo beat Roy back to the apartment. But only by about fifteen minutes or so. After which everyone sat down to eat the hard cooked meal that Maes's wife, Gracia had fixed for them.

Ichigo didn't eat much.

And Maes knew that it had to be partially because of the fact that Roy had collected the stone that she had thrown down, and the close proximity to it was causing the poor girl's already upset stomach to turn even more.

She made a good show of not being affected though.

Even after he told her not to force herself, she still managed to eat some of the food set in front of her before she had to get up and go to the bathroom, that is.

And while she was in the bathroom, Maes and Roy told Gracia what had happened and why the three of them had been so late to dinner. They had mostly focused on Ichigo just randomly disappearing and how they had found her- knowing that she would be concerned enough as it was.

She didn't know that the kid had practically held the homunculus down while they had_ tortured_ and interrogated it before she had then killed it. Maes didn't want Gracia to feel uncomfortable or act weirdly around Ichigo if it could be helped. Especially now that he knew that she wasn't a threat to them and could even help them with the other homunculi.

Besides, he was fairly certain that people tended to act oddly around the kid anyways. And a nice dose of normalcy-_ would_ and _might_ even be appreciated. Especially since he wasn't that certain about how long she had been on her own before the night she had saved his life.

"I see," Gracia said softly as they finished telling her what had happened. Maes had even thrown in a little bit of the explanation that Ichigo had given the two men about being a Guardian, as well as a little bit of what she had told him on the way home. "So...Ichigo can in some way sense homunculi? Like the one that tried to kill you before?"

Maes thinned his lips a little bit before saying grimly, "It looks that way."

Gracia frowned and looked at her husband before asking worriedly, "There's more to it than you're mentioning isn't there?"

Maes took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes for a moment before placing them back on his face and saying, "I think there's more to Ichigo's appearance here than even she seems to realize. She mentioned on the way back here that she could _feel_ everything. They way that she said it leads me to believe that she has some sort of...extra sensory input that is...just _extraordinary_. When she was explain the whole Guardian thing and how she was able to feel things on a much deeper level than an ordinary person- I think the_ reason_ that she came here in the first place has something to do with the homunculi. I mean, thing about it. She's saved my life once before. And then today when she disappeared, it must have been because she sensed the homunculi nearby and-"

Ichigo's tired sounding voice nearly made him jump out of his skin when she spoke up from behind him. "There were two of them this time."

Maes twisted around in his seat as Roy and Gracia looked at the girl.

She wasn't looking so good. In fact, she looked like death warmed over. So much so that Maes got up out of his seat to grab her because she looked as if she were going to fall flat on her face any moment now.

"Are you alright, dear?" Gracia asked as Maes helped the girl re take her previous seat.

"I'm fine. My stomach is just off a bit, that's all." Ichigo said with a small smile, not wanting to worry the woman.

Roy narrowed his eyes at her and then asked, "How long have you been feeling sick kid?"

"She was sick shortly after we left you." Maes said as the girl picked up her fork again and started to eye the food on her plate warily. Undoubtedly worried that she wouldn't be able to keep anything else that she ate, down either.

Roy looked a little bit alarmed. But only slightly so as he asked, "Was it because of-"

Both Maes and Ichigo replied in unison, "No, no, no."

"It's because of that damned stone that you picked up," Ichigo finally said in a frustrated tone. Her expression was strained as she looked at him. "I can't take much more of being close to it. The agony coming off of the thing is damned near _suffocating_." She hissed out as she reached up to rub at her forehead before then letting out a small irritated growl and holding her hand out and demanding. "Gimme the stone."

"Huh?!"

"Gimme the damned stone."

"Why? If it's making you sick then shouldn't you-"

"Don't tell me what I need to do. Just hand me the stupid thing." She snapped at him. Roy scowled at her but slowly dug the stone out and then dropped it into her hand.

She made another hissing sound, this one sounding more like an animalistic sound than a human one- it was laced with such pain that Maes had to try focusing on something other than the girl, as it made contact with her palm.

"What do you need the stone for Ichigo?" Maes asked curiously as she slowly drew her hand back to her side of the table.

"I'm going to purge it of the souls trapped inside of it."

All three of the adults looked at the girl as if she were crazy. And she very well might have been. But if it was the only way for the kid to get any relief from what she was feeling from the stone, Maes would happily let her purge the damned thing until every human soul trapped within it was gone.

Roy however was a different matter entirely.

His friend jumped to his feet and started to reach over and take the stone from her. If not for the fact that Maes reflexes were far quicker than Roy's then the man would have actually managed to wrest it from her grasp.

But as it turned out- the moment that he got to his feet- Maes anticipated his movements in such a way that it not only allowed him to be able to kick Roy's legs out from under him, but he also managed to _pin_ him to the floor where he was currently thrashing and shouting all kinds of things.

"Go ahead kid. Purge away." Maes said with a grin as Roy shouted at him to get his fat ass off of him.

Ichigo nodded and closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to tune everyone and everything out. Which was good, Maes supposed. Especially since Roy's shouted was incredibly distracting.

It was so subtle at first, that it was almost completely missed.

If not for the fact that Maes and Roy both heard Gracia gasp, and suddenly froze up while turning their heads to see what Ichigo was doing- it might have been missed completely.

The sight before them could have only been described as something _divine_.

Ichigo was glowing a pale blue-white, her long hair was floating around her shoulders, her clothing looked as if they had physically changed from the simple shirt and jeans that she had been wearing before. To a odd looking black outfit that had an X across the front that attached to a piece of what looked like a black breastplate. Her pants were large, billowing black silk leggings that looked more like a skirt than actual pants.

And over her shoulder, was what looked like the grip of a massive looking sword. As wide as her torso, and nearly as long as the length of her body as well.

And pulsing within her hands, was the stone.

In all honesty, both or their jaws dropped. How could they not? Neither man had ever seen _anything_ like this before.

"Souls of the lost, who've had their lives ripped away- it's time to regain you're freedom and finally know peace." She said, her voice was kind as she gazed at the stone mere moments before there was a loud howl and the entire building began to shake.

Both men yelped in surprise as Gracia let out a startled sound and backed herself against the wall as a dark flood of shadowy figures were abruptly released from the stone.

It didn't last long.

The shaking, the shadowy figures flying off into the sky- none of it did. And when it was finally over and Ichigo stopped glowing, both she and the stone fell to the ground.

The kid hit the floor so hard that it would be a wonder that she didn't get a concussion. And the stone...Maes was beyond _shocked_ to see that the once ruby colored gem was now a glittering opalescent white.

"Holy-" Maes started to say when Roy looked at the kid and then stone both with wide, freaked out looking eyes and all but shouted. "Shit!"

Maes supposed that that was one way to show a person what Ichigo was without simply coming out and saying it. The kid was definitely _not_ a human.

Which begged the question, just what was she?


	8. Chapter 8

Needless to say, Maes and Roy were sort of beyond freaked out after what Ichigo had just done. So much so, that Gracia had to be the one to 'man up' and get the girl off of the floor because they were too damn freaked out to even _try_ touching her to pick her up and do it themselves.

Well...Roy tried to _nudge_ her towards the couch with his foot.

But his actions had obviously pissed Gracia off because she wound up slapping him upside the head hard and glaring at him in such a frightening way that the man had nearly bowled Maes over simply trying to scamper to safety on the other side of the room.

Joke was on him though.

Gracia had a very long reach, and he was more than a willing minion. Most of the time anyways.

As it was, once Gracia had managed to get Ichigo laid out on the couch, she'd turned on the two men so quickly that they had grabbed each other and cowered in fear. She'd tore into them both. And quite colorfully too. Her annoyance with the two of them having finally hit it's limit.

And then once she finished giving them the tongue lashing that neither man would soon be forgetting- she had stomped off to collect Alicia and then left the apartment after growling at the two to _fix_ this. Whatever this was.

After the two men were sufficiently cowed by her display of temper towards them, they both sat themselves down to figure out what they were going to do now.

Roy outright told Maes that he wasn't sure if letting Ichigo continue to stay with him was the best idea. Mostly because now he was afraid to have her close to him.

Maes...while still freaked out somewhat, didn't think that the kid was something to be terribly worried about. Despite their lack of knowledge or understanding as to what she really was, Ichigo had already more than proven herself to be a kind, compassionate and fairly honest person.

This was of course excluding the badass way that she had handled the homunculi earlier.

So she had _maybe_ (if she even remembered everything in the first damned place) omitted a few...select truths about herself. And after seeing what she had done to the philosopher's stone- he couldn't exactly say that he _totally_ blamed her for it. She obviously had a lot to hide.

Especially since she was probably trying to make as little trouble for herself and others as possible by pretending to be as human as they were.

Roy seemed to understand this fact as well, but was still wary of her and was firmly against her staying with him any longer. So after some deliberation, Maes had been about to offer to let her stay with him and his family.

It wasn't like it would be a terrible ordeal for them. He made more than enough money from his job to support another kid. And it wasn't as if Gracia would mind much, all things considered.

And she...well...his daughter was already attached to her.

In fact Alicia had been talking none stop about her ever since his second day in the hospital. She'd sat in his lap and talked endlessly for nearly three hours about the nice lady that had saved him.

She had told him that when she and Gracia had fist gotten to the hospital that she'd been really upset and the nice girl had taken her from her mom and sat down and put her in her lap and told her stories, and even sang to her.

She'd bought Alicia and Gracia both food. And given her a juice and her momma a coffee and had told them repeatedly that he would be just _fine_. But what had really got him to thinking was the fact that Alicia let it slip that Ichigo had remained in his hospital room just in case someone came after him again.

She had been _guarding_ him.

He'd been so curious that he'd asked Gracia about what Alicia had said once his daughter had finally tuckered herself out and curled up on his hospital bed to nap for a bit and had been shocked and maybe even a little bit surprised to hear Gracia admit that Ichigo had asked her if it was okay if she hung out in the room or at the very least outside of it.

She'd thought that the girl had been playing at first. Especially when Alicia had cried that she wanted to protect her daddy.

She'd then confessed that Ichigo had quieted her by telling her that that was what she was there for. And then told the little girl that she could be her second in command and help watch the door. Gracia had admitted that she had thought it cute at first, how she had made a game to help sooth Alicia's anxiousness.

However after a little while of watching the girl, she had noticed something peculiar.

Despite the fact that she was 'playing' a game to make it seem as if she were 'protecting' him for the benefit of their daughter- she had kept herself between him and the door at all times.

He'd forgotten about this particular conversation until now. But he supposed that between the attempt on his life, and everything else that he'd recently learned about the girl- that it made a great deal of sense.

Now that he recalled the conversation and managed to add one and one together, he felt somewhat foolish for not giving the kid the benefit of the doubt before now.

He opened his mouth to offer to let her stay with him and his family when Roy suddenly blurted out, "I'm going to have her stay with the Elrics." Causing Maes to visibly bristle at the mere suggestion.

The Elrics were a couple of kids no older than Ichigo herself was. And while Ed and Alphonse were both very accomplished alchemists- they traveled constantly. And had very little time to devote to another person's health and well being.

They also tended to get themselves into more trouble than absolutely necessary for kids. Especially since Ed was a little savage. In all honesty between the two boys- Alphonse was the one who was not only the brains and beauty, but he was also the only one in that duo that had any damned common sense.

Don't get Maes wrong, he liked the boys. They were fun to tease and talk too. And they were polite enough, when Alphonse hit Ed hard enough for him to recall his manners in the first place. But they didn't exactly have the most safe or stable lifestyles.

Ichigo would either suffer a mental breakdown, or up and _murder_ Ed within a week's time. And then what would poor Alphonse do with himself? Ed was not only his brother and best friend, but his only real means of entertainment nowadays.

And turning his weird attentions to Ichigo could get the poor kid turned into scrap metal. Of course, he'd laugh the whole time she was shredding his armor, but that wasn't really the point.

The point was that foisting her off on those two was a disaster in the making.

"Alright! I have a plan. Ed and Alphonse will be here in another day or so- they mentioned coming here to visit for a few days- in the meantime, I'll get the legal documents and such out of the way that way Ed can be the adopted father of a bouncing baby...er, whatever the hell she is..."

Maes didn't know what happened after that, he was so pissed off that Roy was going to foist the girl on two semi irresponsible teenage boys that one moment he was sitting and then next- he heard a sickening crack and his knuckles hurt terribly.

Probably not as much as Roy's jaw though.


End file.
